Wind in the Willows

In class we have been listening to some podcasts from the 'Wind in the Willows' story. After listening to the 'Wild Woods' chapter we then wrote our own play scripts about Mole and Rat's trip into the Wild Woods. We practised reading our scripts in pairs and then shared them with the class. The children then had to give each pair some feedback and feedforward.

Recorders

Room 13 had their last session on the recorder for this term. The children were able to play a simple tune called 'Hot Cross Buns' for the first time, using the notes B, A and G. They have come a long way from the first screechy session!

Kapa Haka

This week the year 3 classes had our first Kapa Haka session. 

 First we learnt the words for the Kapa Haka.

Then we started to learn the actions. The girls had to follow the actions of two children from the bilingual unit, as their actions were different from the boys.

An Icy Start

Today we got our first real taste of winter.

We found out that frozen water can be a lot of fun, but we need to be careful in order not to slip over!

Wind in the Willows

We are using the story of The Wind in the Willows, to help us with our creative writing this week.

See if the children can tell you what we have learnt so far about the characters and what we have been writing about!

111 EMERGENCY!

Today we had a fantastic visit from Heather, a St John educationalist.  We learnt a lot about what to do in an emergency.  It is very important to stay calm in an emergency and to make good decisions quickly!

We practised dialling 111 on phones and talking to the operator.  You need to know:

• the service you require - ambulance, fire or police
• the address you are calling from
• the number you are calling from
• why you are calling
• whether the person injured is awake and breathing

We realised that a lot of us DO NOT know our addresses and phone numbers!  PLEASE work on this at home - it is very important in an emergency to be able to clearly tell the operator where you are.

We think that we are more ready to deal with an emergency - but we hope we don't have to soon!!!

Oral Language Focus

This year, the Room 13 children have been taking turns at bringing a favourite book from home to read to their Buzz Group, as part of our Oral Language focus.  This allows us to work on:

• reading to a small group 
• using expression when reading aloud
• having a clear voice that makes others interested in what I have to say
• speaking in front of a small group
• asking and answering questions
• sitting quietly and being an active listener
• giving feed-back and feed-forward

These skills are also helpful to our reading development too!  Here are the wonderful children who read to their groups today - well done!  I was really impressed with what I could see and hear!

 Ashley read Green Eggs and Ham

 Bailey shared his Skylanders book

 Brooke kept us all captivated with her wonderful reading!

 Keaira - we wish that we had duck feet too!

And Charlie had a special book that belonged to be his sister.

Cross Country

It was great that the rain held off for our school cross country. Despite a few nervous flutters all the children were determined to give it their best! We had been preparing for the event in our fitness sessions and the children all had their own goals for the race.
Well done to everyone for an awesome effort!

Orana Park

The year 3 team had a great trip to Orana Park today. We found out lots of interesting things about animals and how they have amazing features to help them live in, on or around water or without much water at all. We also learnt how it is important to keep our waterways clean and healthy for animals, plants and people too!

Water, Water Everywhere

Today we brainstormed as many ideas as we could to do with water. After that we recorded each idea on a small hexagon. Working in groups we then had to decide on ways in which we could group our ideas. Some of the things we came up with were:

• things that live in water: e.g. dolphins, fish, turtles
• where we find water e.g. rivers, lakes, seas
• having fun with water e.g. swimming pool, water slides, jet ski
• ways in which people use water e.g. washing, brushing teeth
• objects that have water in them e.g. kettle, washing machine, tap

Drip, Drip, Drip!

We had an amazing day yesterday taking part in the whole school Science Ignition.  We were in a group with our buddy class and had to rotate around 10 different stations, taking  part in fun water activities!  There were activities involving water pistols, sponges, floating and sinking and obstacles - all to do with water!  We had a fun time interacting with children from other classes and getting wet, wet, wet!